Marilyn Monroe’s Secret to Luminous Skin? Lots and Lots of Vaseline

Generations of women have sought to achieve Marilyn Monroe's radiant complexion. As it turns out, the late bombshell relied on an ordinary drugstore product to keep her skin dewy and bright, but her technique for applying it was anything but simple. And, according to one of her former acting-school classmates, not for the faint of heart.

"Marilyn Monroe had the most luminous skin I ever saw," Renée Taylor said in a speech at a recent event celebrating 50 years of the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, reports Page Six.

"She came into class with Lee Strasberg one day and I just had to ask what she did. Marilyn told me, ‘I rub my entire body down with Vaseline and then get into a three-hour hot bath every morning. It gives my skin a shiny glow.'"

"So, I tried that," Taylor recalled. "I almost drowned."

Monroe's love for Vaseline also extended beyond the bathroom. As Vogue reports, she also applied thick layers of Vaseline or white Nivea Creme under her makeup to get her signature on-camera glow.

While we don't recommend covering yourself in Vaseline before a bath, we fully support adding it into your daily skincare regimen!